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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26596666">Finally</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulumonnie/pseuds/lulumonnie'>lulumonnie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Lou Does Avatar WLW Week 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Bending (Avatar), Childhood Best Friends to Rivals to Lovers, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Getting Together, Rated T for swearing, Set between Atla and LoK, Swords, Written for Avatar WLW Week 2020, metal bending but use it to make swords, sparring leads to the obligatory sword against throat moment because im gay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:28:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,618</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26596666</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulumonnie/pseuds/lulumonnie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kya and Lin are rivals. Kya does not think about Lin's beautiful eyes, her soft lips and her laughter every night before bed, and she is totally not bothered by Lin never spending time sparring with her. </p><p>Written for the Avatar WLW Week 2020, Day Two: Rivals</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Katara (Avatar), Lin Beifong/Kya II, Mai/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Lou Does Avatar WLW Week 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>145</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>AtLA WLW week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Finally</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Lin and Kya both have brown eyes because I say so. Also, my use of the ages and the struggles the girls face are only based loosely on canon, since we don't really have much info about their childhood.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If you had told Kya three weeks ago that she’d be pinned against a wall by her arch nemesis with a sword to her throat she’d probably have scoffed. Loudly. And then would have proceeded to make fun of Lin’s ability to pin anyone against a wall with just her meagre earth bending. <em>Swords are made of metal</em>, she’d have said<em>. I’ve never seen a dirt sword before, Lin</em>.</p><p>Well. She certainly wasn’t scoffing now. She was staring at the woman in front of her and for some reason she could hardly breathe. The sharp tip of Lin’s sword was lightly grazing her throat, not quite harming any skin, but doing absolutely nothing to alleviate the harsh pounding of her heart.</p>
<hr/><p>Initially she’d only wanted to tease Lin a bit. The two of them had grown up as close friends, but the older they had gotten, the more the rivalry between the two eldest daughters of the Gaang had started to fester. Izumi, who was often standing to the side when the two of them would start bickering, was supremely done with their shit most of the time, since even she as Kya’s and Lin’s closest friend couldn’t stop them from arguing.</p><p>Kya couldn’t exactly pinpoint why the rivalry had started. They’d always teased each other, Lin had always been grumpy and Kya had always been cheeky, but at some point the two of them had started to compete for the world’s attention. Being the children of the most powerful benders in the world did result in some pressure to perform extraordinarily. Kya wasn’t the air bender Aang had been hoping for, and for the longest time Lin had struggled with picking up metal bending. They both had to fight and work hard to seem like they weren’t the family disappointment, even though none of their parents ever said or thought anything of the like.</p><p>A large part of their ongoing rivalry was how similar Lin and Kya were. They were both determined not to let their families down as well as outrageously stubborn. Whenever a fight occurred it was because neither one would back down. Izumi would scoff and roll her eyes at her two best friends, doing the best impression of her mother Mai scolding Druk when he stole too much of the firelord’s personal stash of fire flakes. And Kya and Lin would fight, throwing dirt and water at each other, much like their mothers had done when they had been kids. Uncle Sokka often commented on their similarities to their mothers, but neither girl spared him much thought. Kya supposed he was probably right in the fighting aspect.</p><p>Slowly but surely, their relationship turned into a full-blown rivalry. They weren’t enemies per se, they didn’t hate each other, no matter how much they jokingly referred to each other as arch nemesis. Kya didn’t think she could hate Lin. Lin was everything she was not. She was strong and stubborn and determined and beautiful.</p><p>She’d once confided in Izumi how much she admired Lin. Izumi had raised an eyebrow and her mouth was doing that thing tit did when she was trying not to start laughing.</p><p><em>What</em>, Kya had asked. Izumi had just snorted and said <em>You’ll get it eventually</em>. It had been an all-round unhelpful talk.</p><p>When Kya and Lin were both 18, something shifted. In this case, Kya did know what had happened: Lin was finally able to bend metal. Kya had been present the first time Lin had managed to bend some metal two weeks ago. Lin had been standing in front of a small sphere of metal her mother had gifted her, her eyes closed and her face concentrated. Kya had been sparring with Izumi, trying not to notice the long, toned expanse of Lin’s back. She didn’t know why she always felt so hot around Lin, especially when the other looked so concentrated and her arms were flexing around the steady metal bending forms. Kya thought it was probably her fascination for the different bending styles. It had nothing to do with the pearl of sweat running down Lin’s face to her throat, nothing to do with Lin’s nervous habit of biting her lips now and then until they turned slightly puffy. It was pure admiration and a want to measure up to her friend/arch nemesis. Kya could practically <em>hear</em> the raised eyebrow Izumi would have given her if she had said these thoughts out loud but decided to ignore it.</p><p>Kya had been sufficiently distracted by Lin for Izumi to knock her onto her back. She had turned back to the future fire lord when suddenly she heard a gasp from Lin’s corner of the training hall. She whipped her head around, staring at Lin.</p><p>Lin’s eyes were wide and there was a gigantic smile on her face as she moved her arms slowly, deliberately around the sphere of metal that was turning into strange shapes in front of her. Izumi whooped loudly as she hurried over to her friend while Kya stared at Lin with a burning in her gut that she couldn’t quite place.</p>
<hr/><p>Over the next two weeks Kya’s temper got worse. With Lin finally being able to metal bend, she spent most of her time with Toph, learning the ins and outs. When Lin wasn’t busy with training, she was congratulated on her newfound ability by everyone, and by none more than Tenzin. Kya’s brother hung off of Lin like a lovesick puppy, staring at her with wide eyes, and even though Kya knew that Tenzin saw Lin as a sister, the whole staring and the excessive amount of talking the two of them did drove Kya up the wall. She was miserable, and she had no idea why. She hadn’t sparred with Lin for at least three weeks now, she hadn’t even talked to her more than asking her to pass the salt at dinner a week ago.</p><p><em>What the fuck are arch nemeses for if they’re never around</em>, she thought bitterly, making her way to the training grounds on Air Temple Island. She tried to squash her hope of Lin being there. She was never there these days. <em>It’s like she completely forgot about me and our rivalry</em>, Kya thought. The idea made her feel even worse, although she had no idea why.</p><p>Grumpily, she threw rounded the corner before the grounds, where she was met with a sudden gust of wind that blew her hair out of her face.</p><p>When she looked up, her heart jumped to her throat. Lin was there, sparring with someone. Kya tried to squash her excitement, when she suddenly saw who Lin was sparring with.</p><p>Tenzin. <em>Of course,</em> Tenzin would be here. <em>Of course,</em> Lin would be more interested in sparring with her younger brother than with her. Something unnamed and painful pressed down on Kya’s lungs, and she felt her eyes welling up with angry tears. She clenched her fist, leaving an imprint of fingernails on her hands. She didn’t know why she felt so angry, so hurt watching her brother spar with Lin, but she felt the rage boil up inside her, and she swore under her breath, making her way over to the pool of water, letting her body run through the motions she’d practiced so many times, trying to calm herself. <em>All those meditations with dad must be good for something</em>, she thought, trying her best to squash the feelings of resentment.</p><p>She’d just about succeeded, when she heard Lin laugh loudly behind her. It was clear and soft, the kind of sound she’d only hear rarely, but here her brother was, easily coaxing out the reaction. The anger inside of her flared up again and before she could think straight, she’d turned around and dumped all of the water she’d been holding in the air on Lin and Tenzin.</p><p>Tenzin turned around to Kya, crossing his arms in that petulant way so typical of fifteen-year-old boys. Kya shot him a look that must have been extremely angry because he quickly took a step back and cleared his throat, mumbling something about air bending lessons with dad and high tailed towards the temple, not looking back once. Only when her brother was gone did Kya turn to Lin.</p><p>Lin was seething. She was drenched from head to toe, her eyes wild and her hair wet. Kya thought it was unfair that she still managed to look beautiful.</p><p>‘What the <em>FUCK</em> is your problem’, Lin spat, her voice harsh.</p><p>‘No what’s <em>your</em> problem’, Kya said, ignoring the way Lin’s words stung.</p><p>‘Excuse me??’</p><p>‘You heard me. What the fuck is your problem with me? Now that Tenzin is old enough to spar with you, you just completely fuck off??’, Kya said, her voice raising to a shout.</p><p>‘What the fuck are you even talking about, Kya’, Lin asked, clenching her fists and using one to push the wet hair out of her face.</p><p>‘I’m talking about you ignoring me completely, Beifong’, Kya shouted, feeling the water behind her gurgle and heat up.</p><p>‘You think I’m ignoring you? You’ve been nothing but a grumpy asshole for three weeks, why the fuck would I want to spar with you?’, Lin shot back. Kya winced. That hurt.</p><p>‘Look who’s talking’, Kya said, her eyes stinging with tears.</p><p>‘Well if you want to spar so fucking badly, let’s spar!’, Lin yelled, her face red with anger, taking a step towards Kya. Kya’s heart jumped to her throat.</p><p>‘Let’s fucking spar’, Kya growled, ignoring the blood pounding in her ears. She readied herself, bending some water from the pool into her hands, forming it into two spears of ice, while Lin bent some metal into her hands, forming… a sword? Kya hadn’t known that was a thing she could do with bending, but no matter. She’d still kick Lin’s ass. Maybe then this hot, painful feeling in her chest would go away.</p><p>Lin struck first, and she struck with force. If Kya hadn’t been so used to Lin’s steadfastness, she would’ve been knocked to the ground instantly. Kya retaliated by flinging a flurry of ice shards at Lin, who blocked them with a wall of earth. Lin stormed from behind the wall, throwing an array of rocks towards Kya, still not using the sword in her hand. Kya stopped them with a few well-placed shards of ice. Furrowing her brows, Kya shot a stream of water into Lin’s face, drenching her even more.</p><p>That had been a mistake, because suddenly, Kya was completely distracted by the water running over Lin’s face, dropping from her eyelashes over her the arch of her nose, down her cheeks and over her red, snarling lips. Kya wanted to do something, but she stood transfixed, staring at Lin’s lips.</p><p>Lin wasn’t idle while Kya stared at her. She jumped in front of Kya, quickly pushing her against the wall behind her and holding her sword against Kya’s throat, her expression firm and angry.</p><p>This was how Kya had ended up in the current situation. She had no idea what exactly had made her stare at Lin’s lips so intently, but the added closeness of Lin right in front of her made the situation even worse. Lin’s lips were so close. Lin’s face was so close. There was a sword against her throat and she was trapped against a wall by a furious Lin Beifong and the only thing Kya could think <em>was how fucking beautiful the girl in front of her was</em>.</p><p>Subconsciously, Kya had always known that Lin was pretty, but this close she could see the light brown specs in her dark brown eyes, she could see how the light reflected in them, making them seem like the first leaves of autumn hitting the ground in the golden hours of October. She could see Lin’s small birthmark just at the edge of her hairline. She could see the small scar from the time Lin, Izumi and Kya had tried using the stairs of Air Temple Island as a sledging hill. Kya could see Lin’s lips and she really didn’t know why she was so fucking obsessed with Lin’s lips, but there was just something so enticing about the rose colour, the soft arch. Kya stared at Lin’s lips, and suddenly it felt like she finally understood what the painful, heart-wrenching thing in her gut was. She let out a gasp.</p><p><em>I don’t want to be Lin. I want to kiss her</em>, she thought. <em>I want to kiss her. I want to kiss her so badly, I’ve wanted to kiss her for so long, I’ve wanted to hold her in my arms since we were fifteen, I’ve wanted to kiss that fucking birthmark since I first discovered it. I want to kiss her. I <strong>have</strong> to kiss her</em>.</p><p>Kya felt her head empty of thoughts except for <em>I have to kiss her</em>. She reached her hands up to Lin’s face, cupping her cheeks in her hands and she could see Lin’s snarl morph into surprise and… was that anticipation? Lin opened her mouth to say something, but Kya just pulled her head towards her, clumsily crashing their lips together and oh.</p><p><em>Oh</em>.</p><p>There was a shiver running up Kya’s spine as she kissed Lin for the first time. Her head was spinning, her thoughts racing and her heart beating so loudly she couldn’t hear anything but the blood pounding and Lin’s raspy breaths.</p><p>Lin. <em>Lin</em>.</p><p>Lin, who was <em>kissing her back</em>. Lin, who still had a sword to her throat, but used her other hand to cradle Kya’s head as well, running her fingers through Kya’s long, dark hair. Lin, who was kissing her with so much enthusiasm, Kya thought she could happily die in her arms, if Lin just kept kissing her.</p><p>She’d never felt anything like this. She’d never felt so alive. Her entire body was thrumming as if she was sparring, but the turmoil inside of Kya had finally ceased and the only thing replacing it was warmth, so much warmth. There was a scorching fire inside of Kya’s chest that had nothing to do with Uncle Zuko’s lectures to Izumi about her inner flame.</p><p>She was kissing Lin. After years of fighting, hurting and not understanding herself, she was finally kissing Lin, finally tasting just how sweet Lin’s lips tasted, finally feeling just how it felt to be held so closely, pressed so thoroughly against a wall with Lin’s warm body against hers.</p><p>She never wanted to stop.</p><p>As if fate felt like laughing her in the face, Lin slowly drew back slightly, leaning her forehead against Kya’s and letting her quick breaths flow over Kya’s face. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds until Kya finally said what she’d been thinking for so many years.</p><p>‘You’re beautiful’, she whispered. Lin’s eyes widened and a blush spread over her cheeks. Kya thought she’d never seen anyone look quite as breath-taking as Lin, dishevelled and still drenched in water as she was.</p><p>‘I’ve wanted to do this for a long time’, Lin answered, her lips forming a shy smile that made Kya’s already racing heart pick up speed.</p><p>‘Me too’, Kya admitted. ‘It just took some time to figure that out.’</p><p>‘That’s okay’, Lin murmured, leaning in to kiss Kya again after letting the sword in her hand clatter to the ground.</p>
<hr/><p>Tenzin and Izumi, who had been standing around the corner, sometimes checking whether Kya and Lin and had finally killed each other, peeked around the corner. Tenzin let out a quiet, shocked gasp while Izumi just grinned with satisfaction.</p><p><em>Finally,</em> she thought.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed!! Let me know what you thought, comments and kudos are always appreciated. If you want to come talk to me my tumblr is @apprecimation until the end of wlw week and afterwards it's @flameyohotdamn</p></blockquote></div></div>
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